Posted 15 January 2011 - 12:01 PM
89th Rifle Division (Soviet Union)
The 89th Tamanskaya(Tamamyan) Rifle Division was a distinguished division in the Soviet Red Army during the Second World War. The division was primarily remembered for its second formation, composed primarily of ethnic Armenians and fought in numerous battles during the war.
It gained fame for participating in the battle for Berlin in April 1945, occupying the Berlin suburb of Rosenthal at war's end. A small contingent of the division arrived at the river Elbe after the war in a famous meeting between Red Army soldiers and the United States army forces from the west.
First Formation
The Division was established at Kursk prior to June 1941. On 22 June 1941 it was part of 33rd Rifle Corps in the interior Orel Military District. Fighting as part of the 19th Army, it was wiped out at Vyazma in October 1941.
Second Formation
The division was re-formed in December 1941 in the capital of the Armenian SSR, Yerevan after the outset of the German invasion of the Soviet Union. It was a redesignation of the 474th Rifle Division, which was formed on 14 December 1941 and renumbered the 89th Rifle Division on 26 December 1941. The company commander was S. Zakyan and his subordinates were A. Vasilyan and major-general Nver Safaryan. It published a weekly newspaper in Armenian called the Red Soldier. In October 1942, the division finally set out to fight against Nazi Germany's forces; recapturing the city of Grozny and the outlying areas.
Early Fighting
It met fierce fighting at the Russian cities of Eleqotov, Malgobek and Voznesenskaya; effectively halting the advances made by the German Wehrmacht and its ambitions to capture the oil fields of the Caucasus. On 21 January 1943 they advanced 30-40 kilometers past Malgobek and Khamedan towards the Azov Sea. On 9 February, Vasilyan was killed while fighting in the city of Novojereelka. In September 1943, the division moved to the southern front and reached the Taman Peninsula in the Ukraine.
On 6 September the division attacked the German-held Russian city of Novorossiysk on the Black Sea and during the fighting, senior sergeants Hunan Avetisyan and S. Arakelyan both earned the rank of Hero of the Soviet Union. Avetisyan was awarded posthumously after he threw himself in the line of fire of a German pillbox, killing him, but allowing his squad to take advantage to outflank the pillbox which had been delaying their advance.
On 3 October 1943 the division captured Taman and was awarded with the title "Tamanskaya". The 89th was soon sent to Baksi and Hajimoushka, on 21 November, holding both cities against German attacks for over five months; on 24 April 1944 the division was awarded the Order of the Red Star for its efforts. In May 1944, the division participated in the liberation of Sevastopol and was subsequently awarded the Order of the Red Banner and honored by the city of Sevastopol itself. Senior lieutenants S. Bagdasaryan and L. Khachaturyan, and senior sergeants A. Haroutyunyan and M. H. Mkhirtichyan were awarded with the Order of the Hero of Soviet Union.
The Belorussian Front
In October–September 1944, the division was transferred to the 1st Baltic Front under the command of the Soviet marshal Hovhannes Bagramyan, entering Poland in 12 January 1945. As the division raced towards Berlin on its trek towards the German capital, the unit was recorded to have liberated a total of 900 cities, towns, and villages in Poland and Czechoslovakia. It finally entered eastern Germany in April, capturing the bordertown city of Frankfurt (Oder) near Brandenburg, about 70 kilometers east of Berlin.
The march towards Berlin
As the division neared the capital, commanders in the Red Army initially rejected the unit participating in the capture of the city. Protestations made by "Taman" commanders, however, argued that since they had sustained such heavy losses and advanced such long distances, they deserved to participate in the war's final and most climatic battle. Red Army commanders relented and on 16 April, the division entered Berlin and fought in a month long battle to capture the city. Along with the elements of the Red Army's 3rd Guards Army, the division participated in capturing Wedding, Reinickendorf and seven other districts. It also captured a defensive position held by the Germans at Humboldthain park.
For its achievements in Berlin, the "Taman" division was awarded the Order of Kutuzov 2nd Class. The "Taman" division advanced a total of 3,700 kilometers since its original introduction into combat in the Caucasus with 7,333 of its members receiving commendations and awards, nine, including its commander, Colonel Major H. Babayan, being decorated with the award of the Hero of the Soviet Union.
Postwar and service in Georgia
Until 1957, the Division remained the 89th Rifle Division, when it became the 145th Mountain Rifle Division; 1965 145th Mtn Rifle Div; 1989 145th MRD. It was based in Batumi, Adjara, Georgia, for most of the postwar period as part of the Transcaucasian Military District's 9th Army. It comprised the 35th, 87th, 90th, 1358th MRRs and 114th Independent Tank Battalion in 1989-90.
The division's installations lined the main roads of Khelvachauri, with at least two barracks blocks, military family housing, and what appears to be a vehicle park or ammunition storage facility which has been hollowed out of gently rolling terrain and camouflaged. There is also a military training area on the coast at Akhalsopeli just south of the Batumi airport.
It was renamed the 12th Military Base on 15 May 1992 according to the Collective Security Treaty. In late 1999, the base had 1,790 personnel and included the 35th (Batumi) and the 90th (Khelvachauri) motor rifle regiments; the 809th artillery regiment (Batumi); the 122nd communications battalion (Medjinistzqali); the 61st artillery detachment (Batumi); and the 773rd reconnaissance battalion (Medjinistzqali). An unnamed Russian Defence Ministry official, speaking to Iter-Tass on 29 March 2004, said that the two bases had reduced their personnel – ‘if there were over 2,000 servicemen at each Russian base at the beginning of 2003, now there are at least 1,000 servicemen.’ The reorganization had also meant the disbandment of units at the bases that did not carry out direct combat missions.
Following several years of tense negotiations, Russia agreed, in March 2005, to complete the withdrawal of the base from Batumi before the end of 2008. However, the base was officially handed over to Georgia on 13 November 2007, ahead of planned schedule.
Honorifics are Tamanskaya Krasnozamennaya, of Order of Kutuzov and Order of the Red Star.
Engagements/Battle of the Caucasus, Battle of the Crimea (1944), Battle of the Baltic (1944), Vistula-Oder Offensive, Battle of Berlin
Decorations/Order of Kutuzov 2nd Class, Order of the Red Banner, Order of the Red Star
Battle honors/Taman